Teaching Remote Teachers: WNYRIC and Buffalo State collaborate on Virtual Teaching Course
For new teachers entering the field of education, classrooms are going to look very different than they did just a year ago. To help prepare student teachers for the realities of remote teaching, SUNY Buffalo State College partnered with the experts at Western New York Regional Information Center (WNYRIC) to develop an online course.
Professional Development Coordinator Darlynda Miktuk was a natural choice based on her previous experience developing online course for administrators.
She has been teaching that course at Canisius College for seven years, first through a service from Erie 1 BOCES and more recently as an adjunct professor.
“In addition to my experience, my passions for social emotional learning and remote learning, led to me developing the course on remote learning,” Miktuk explained.
Miktuk also specializes in five other professional development sessions offered at BOCES and K-12 districts.
“It’s different because the participants are in college and they are student teachers, who don’t have students of their own yet. It’s a totally different population from what I am used to,” she explained.
She learned in developing the first online course that online courses for adults cannot be successfully structured like an in-person class.
“When I first started creating online courses years ago, I designed it like any other college course with coursework due each week. It became clear that model does not work for adult learners’ schedules. It needs to be asynchronous so that each participant can do the work at their own pace. Flexibility is huge in online courses,” Miktuk said.
She created the course, “Applying Best Practices in Any Remote Learning Scenario” from the ground up without any affiliation with a particular program or platform. She has had to make adjustments along the way. The course started out as a stand-alone and has now moved to be supplemental. Miktuk has had more than 20 professors and around 160 students participate in the course that spans from Sept. 8 to Dec. 11.
The course syllabus includes activities with an emphasis on connecting with students and teacher clarity, and also includes a self-care unit.
“My biggest takeaway is that every educator could benefit from this course because no matter where they are in their career, everyone is a new teacher in remote learning,” Miktuk said.
For information about professional development services, please contact Steven Graser, director of Professional Development and Instructional Technology Resources, at sgraser@e1b.org.